Tuck Everlasting

Two weeks later when the summer heat has ebbed, Winnie sits in the yard and considers the night of Mae’s escape. She remembers curling up on the cot and hoping the constable wouldn’t notice she wasn’t as large as Mae. An enormous crash in the night kept her awake with fear until morning, when she saw the gallows had blown over in the storm.

The constable came to her sell with breakfast, only to fly into a rage when he saw her and that Mae was gone. Since she’s too young to be punished by the law, Winnie was released to her family, who asked her over and over why she helped the Tucks. Winnie cries and tells the only truth she can think of—that “in spite of everything, she loved them” (129). There’s been no sign of the Tucks since they escaped, and Winnie is confined to the yard indefinitely.

While she sits in the yard, her toad plops down outside the fence. A dog comes by and makes to pounce on the toad, but before it can, Winnie snatches the toad and brings it through the bars to safety. Not wanting anything to happen to the toad, she runs up to her room, gets the bottle of spring water Jesse gave her, and pours it on the toad.